Pop singer Cody Simpson finished last in the 100-meter butterfly final at the Australian Olympic swimming trials on Thursday (June 17), but he was trying to focus on the bigger picture. He’s not going to Tokyo but says making the final was still a victory.
“To be in that final, that is my achievement for this year, that is my gold medal at least for 2021,” Simpson said. “I didn’t expect to be remotely competitive until 2022-23 at the earliest.”Simpson was a talented junior swimmer who put aside his sporting exploits to move into the American music market, and he succeeded.
The 24-year-old Simpson resumed swimming last year, with a plan to make Australia’s team for the Paris Olympics in 2024. He had two personal best swims at the Adelaide trials, in the 100 butterfly and the 100 freestyle. “The cool thing about my swimming is I don’t even know what my best event is yet,” he said. “I just chose the 100 ’fly because it was all I had time to race and prepare for this year.”
Although Simpson’s name was missing from the 35-person team named for Tokyo at the end of the trial’s final night Thursday, there were plenty of names with gold medal credentials to compete in Japan next month. Emily Seebohm and Cate Campbell joined Leisel Jones as the only Australian swimmers to make four Olympics, with the team also including three athletes named to their third Olympics, nine to their second and 21 to their first team.
In an Instagram post Simpson lauded his amazing experience at his first Olympic trials and included a vow that he will be back for the next games, writing, “To make a final was our goal this year and with less than a year of training we did just that. I’ve come so much further than I expected to this year and to be racing the best in the country already is a privilege… I’m so psyched to get back to training. See you in 3 years.”
